Power outages, tornado warnings in, around Philly

Saturday

Aug 27, 2011 at 10:56 PMAug 28, 2011 at 2:21 AM

Soaked to the core already by unyielding amounts of rain this month, Philadelphia, its suburbs and parts of Pennsylvania braced for even more — and worried about flooding — as Hurricane Irene made its way up the east coast.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Soaked to the core already by unyielding amounts of rain this month, Philadelphia, its suburbs and parts of Pennsylvania braced for even more — and worried about flooding — as Hurricane Irene made its way up the east coast.

Besides the lashing rain and wind gusts of up to 54 mph at the Philadelphia International Airport, Irene's storm also resulted in several tornado warnings and watches in southeastern Pennsylvania and left 139,000 without power.

And that was before the intense winds and rain expected early Sunday morning.

Utility PECO said customers in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties lost power because of lines downed by the storm.

The National Weather Service issued a tornado watch for southeastern Pennsylvania until 5 a.m. Sunday, along with a flash flood warning.

Flood and flash flood watches were in effect for parts of northeastern and central Pennsylvania through Sunday, along with the state's southeast, too.

In Philadelphia, Mayor Michael Nutter warned residents there that the city and surrounding areas faced the worst weather in 50 years — he declared a state of emergency for the nation's fifth-largest city, calling the move aimed at "saving lives."

The state of emergency — the first such filed for the city since 1986 amid racial tensions — will help the city get people out of flood-prone areas, save lives and better ready city workers for the flooding and high winds.

"We are trying to save lives and don't have time for silliness," he said, adding that some parts of the city were already starting to see minor flooding. "This is one of the worst storm incidents to hit Philadelphia in the last 50 years."

The state of emergency followed similar measures announced in New York, Baltimore and Washington.

Though weaker, Irene remained menacing as it crept up the coast, killing two people in North Carolina and Virginia and threatening storm surges along the coasts of Virginia, Delaware, the Jersey Shore, as well as New York Harbor and Long Island Sound.

The storm approached as Philadelphia has had its wettest month in recorded history. The National Weather Service said that 13.61 inches of rain has fallen in the city this month.

That broke the previous August record of 12.10 inches set a century earlier. Forecasters say that also made August 2011 the all-time wettest month on record, breaking the old record of 13.07 inches set in September 1999, mostly due to Hurricane Floyd.

Pennsylvania won't be immune, either. The state is already saturated from excessive rain this summer and flooding is all but certain in the state's central and eastern portions.

Officials projected six to 10 inches of rain but said a few locations could get more than a foot, and also warned of sustained winds of 40 to 55 mph with gusts to 70 mph.

Concern about the wind prompted PennDOT to lower the speeds on interstates in and around the Philadelphia area to just 45 mph and restrict empty tractor-trailers, motorcycles, recreational vehicles and cars pulling trailers from traveling on Interstates 76, 95, 476 and 676 in southeastern Pennsylvania.

Gov. Tom Corbett told reporters Saturday that residents of southeastern Pennsylvania, including Philadelphia, appeared to be taking the situation seriously. But he said he was concerned that people in eastern, northeastern and central parts of the commonwealth might not be preparing adequately, not just for the storm's passage Sunday but for the following days.

"The rivers may not crest until Tuesday or Wednesday," Corbett said. "This isn't just a 24-hour event."

Corbett said there were worries about flooding in places like the Lehigh River in eastern Pennsylvania and to the northeast, and he would be concerned about flooding as far west as Cambria County, about two-thirds of the way across the state, especially in light of all the rain that has already fallen so far this month.

"The ground's saturated," he said. "We've had a lot of rain in August. It doesn't take a lot to have a flash flood."

Corbett urged people to avoid travel during the storm, telling them to keep out of harm's way and out of the way of emergency personnel.

The governor earlier issued a disaster proclamation, freeing up state agencies to use all available resources and personnel. The Pennsylvania National Guard called out 1,500 Army and Air Force guard members to help with rescue missions, sandbagging and other tasks, bringing resources in from western Pennsylvania and keeping another 250 guard members on standby in flood-prone areas

At Fort Indiantown Gap in central Pennsylvania, the Air National Guard was bringing in helicopters to assist in operations after Irene passes. Eighteen aircraft from across the region will be ready to assist as needed, according to Lt. Col. Tom Crosson.

Maj. Gen. David Harris, director of operations at the National Guard bureau in Arlington, Va., said thus far civil agencies in the affected states haven't requested assistance, but he expects that to change.

Forecasters said major flooding was likely in low-lying areas of eastern Pennsylvania, and while rivers such as the Schuylkill could flood quickly, the Delaware and Susquehanna were also highly susceptible although they rise more slowly. Evacuations of residents were ordered in low-lying areas of a few communities in the Philadelphia suburbs, and residents of such areas in the city itself were urged to leave.

Annette Burton, 72, was one of those asked to leave her Chester neighborhood because of danger of rising water from the nearby creek, which sent four feet of water into her basement one year. But she said she planned to remain in the row house along with her daughter and adult grandson, although with a wary eye on the park across the street that routinely floods during heavy rains.

"I'm not a fool; if it starts coming up from the park, I'm leaving," she said. "It's the wind I'm more concerned about than anything."

Although power was to be shut off, something that has happened before, and she expected to lose phone service as well, she planned to make do with a charcoal grill and two freezers of food as well as some prepared items.

Colleen Sack, 66, was at a gas station with husband, Nelson, filling up a tank for the generator of their home in Chadds Ford, Chester County, which was high enough to be out of danger from the Brandywine Creek. But they had a camp stove and had stocked up with seven to 10 days of food and water, including water to flush toilets if necessary.

"I think there's going to be a lot of power outages. If we lose our power, we have no water," she said, recalling a winter storm during which they lost power for seven days and had to leave home. "We'll be fine unless a big old tree falls on us."

At the Manayunk Brewery & Restaurant, one of the owners, Mike Rose, piled sandbags and readied a pump by the door, where flooding has occurred in past storms. But the restaurant not only remained open but was hosting a wedding party upstairs for about 140 people, who were expecting dinner in about a half-hour, he said.

"They haven't started dancing yet, but they've got a band upstairs, they're having fun," Rose told The Associated Press.

The restaurant is right above the Schuylkill River, but Rose said the river would have to come up 28 feet to come over the terrace wall — not that such a thing has never happened before.

"It came over in Hurricane Floyd (in 1999), it came over in Agnes (1972), it came over last year," he said.

Emergency shelters opened Saturday night at a number of schools in Philadelphia and its suburbs. Many were also equipped to handle pets.

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, which had announced an unprecedented shutdown of all mass transit operations as of 12:30 a.m. Sunday, shut down early after the tornado warning.

Earlier, seven regional SEPTA lines also shut down due to Amtrak cancelations of service, including the Keystone Corridor between Harrisburg and New York.

Philadelphia International Airport closed at 10:30 p.m. and will remain closed until at least 4 p.m. on Sunday.

The Philadelphia Phillies and Florida Marlins rescheduled Saturday night's game to Sept. 15 and later postponed the day game as well due to rain. In South Williamsport in central Pennsylvania, the championship game of the Little League World Series was moved back three hours to noon Sunday and the consolation game scheduled earlier was canceled.